The Gulf Oil spill is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. Is BP responsible for the cost of the clean up. Absolutely! That being said, is everything possible being done to clean it up. Absolutely not!
1. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, early on, asked the Federal Government for permission to dredge sand
and create offshore berms to prevent the oil from reaching the marshes and destroying wildlife and their
habitat. It took over three weeks before the permission was granted. It has now been stopped because the
Government now thinks the dredging may be damaging wildlife and have ordered it stopped. By the way,
the oil is now in the marshes.
2. A few days ago there were about 30 some odd skimmers working in the Gulf removing oil from the surface
of the water. They were all shut down while the Coast Guard checked their crews for proper life jackets.
3. Speaking of skimmers, it seems that there are other skimmers around the country available for work in the
Gulf, but the Government won't use them because there may be an oil spill where they are located.
Remember, the Fire Department can't come put out the fire at your house because there may be another
fire somewhere else.
4. Denmark, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and some other countries have offered state of the art skimmers, but
they have been refused by "The Jones Act". This is an 1920's act to protect the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Any ships working in U.S. waters have to be crewed by United States maritime workers.This act can be
suspended by an Executive order by the President. So far it hasn't been done. How come? Union
protectionism, maybe? Just asking. Do you know when it was last suspended? Right after Hurricane
Katrina by that "evil" President Bush. Just thought you'd like to know.
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